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Homeschool Newbie!!

I have a 7 year old daughter and we are starting homeschool this year, she is in second grade. We were going to do k12, but I've been hearing mixed reviews. I really don't know what are my other options as far as homeschooling goes, so I thought I would ask you ladies. What do you do? Do you recommend k12? If not, what programs do you recommend?

Hi..I'm beginning next year too. We are doing our own thing. I'll be picking and choosing to fit what I want to do with what is required! Complete curriculums seem to expensive to me. There is so many other resources that is cheap or free. It's just going to be taking the time to plan ahead and research. My son attends a cyber school. They are nice because his has live teachers and he attends online classes and gets 1:1 support as well. I don't know much about K12, sorry I can't help there. Hope it works for you.

K12 is public school. If you are ok with common core standards and just overall pleased with the public school process, then it should work for you. But most homeschoolers are hsing for the freedom to tailor the education to the needs of their kids, or for religious content. I personally despise the government intrusion into our lives, so I steer well clear of anything like that. To get a good handle on what all is available out there with out wearing yourself out (because seriously, you will spend WEEKS looking at every.single.thing out ther) take a look at Rainbow Resources. The catalog weighs about 3 lbs, is fine print, and is the most comprehensive catalogue I know of.

First thing, though, figure out what type of learner you've got, then narrow that down by whether you want secular or Christian, and study the different teaching methods like Charlotte Mason, Classical, eclectic, traditional, etc. Yeah, its overwhelming, but kind of fun once you get into it.

Oh, and I guess I forgot to mention what we use lol. I've got jr high-ers now, so this year we used BJU for math and science, Notgrass for American History, and we kind of "unschooled" language arts, but next year I'm thinking of trying either Cover Story or BJU for 8th grade LA.

When they were little, we like McGuffey readers, Horizons math and various library resources for history and science. I didn't buy a lot of curriculum when they were young.

get the book from the library loan "100 top picks for homeschool curriculum" by Cathy Duffy... it compares many of the options side by side and tells you the strengths of each without pushing one. All in all, if you do K12 your child will probably have to spend a lot more time each day on school. For other curriculums.... some buy a package that has all the subjects together, and some buy the subjects individually. One thing to think about, is if you are looking for a secular based curriculum (like K12) or a Christian based one (like Abeka, Sonlight, My Fathers World, Alpha and Omega)......you can get on several of those companies mailing lists to get free catalogues to help you narrow down your choices as well. Think too if you want more of a "textbook" type of study...or something where you read books together with your child and discuss them etc....... it can seem overwhelming...but the Cathy Duffy book was a real help to me. I have a 1st and 2nd grader...and for those ages I spent the most time looking at what Math and language arts I wanted..... the history and science is good too but not as big of a focus at that age. Some popular math curriculums for that age are Horizon, Saxon, Singapore, and Abeka. We have tried Saxon and Horizon and we love the the Horizon!

Like another poster said, K12 is basically public school. You can't choose the curricula and your child answers to a teacher instead of you. If a child has specialized learning needs, or you want creativity and flexibility in your schooling, then K12 may not be the best way to fill your needs or wants.

As a person just starting though, K12 can be a nice intermediate transition step. It would let you be at home and work with your child without having to plan or pull anything together. If the academics at school are not your reason for homeschooling, you may find the K12 curricula is okay for you.

However, depending upon WHY you want to homeschool, K12 may feel like a ball and chain! There are all kinds of options when you're homeschooling and you have great freedom to choose creative, hands-on learning, audio-visual learning, or whatever means of learning your child loves.

The first year we homeschooled, I used a packaged curriculum for our basic learning, but we ended up taking an eclectic approach after that. I chose different programs for different subjects based upon the needs of each child in each subject.

Homeschooling is a lot easier than it might seem -- if you relax and take it one step at a time, you'll find your individual style and way of homeschooling! Great thing about homeschooling too... You can change your mind anytime anything isn't working! So, you can start with K12 and if you don't like it..you can withdraw your child and take it independently from there. ;-)

This! :) I'm a newbie homeschooler myself and I think I'm on week three of curriculum/homeschool research? Lol It's addicting in a good way.

Quoting Leissaintexas:

K12 is public school. If you are ok with common core standards and just overall pleased with the public school process, then it should work for you. But most homeschoolers are hsing for the freedom to tailor the education to the needs of their kids, or for religious content. I personally despise the government intrusion into our lives, so I steer well clear of anything like that. To get a good handle on what all is available out there with out wearing yourself out (because seriously, you will spend WEEKS looking at every.single.thing out ther) take a look at Rainbow Resources. The catalog weighs about 3 lbs, is fine print, and is the most comprehensive catalogue I know of.

First thing, though, figure out what type of learner you've got, then narrow that down by whether you want secular or Christian, and study the different teaching methods like Charlotte Mason, Classical, eclectic, traditional, etc. Yeah, its overwhelming, but kind of fun once you get into it.

I have also heard bad reviews, but I know there are people out there that it really works for them.

For their main subjects we use COMPREHENSIVE CURRICULUM OF BASIC SKILLS. I started my oldest on it when he was 3 while I was between jobs and kept him out of daycare. Later when we decided to actually homeschool we stuck with it. Its a huge workbook of around 500 pages. It doesonly go up to 6th grade, so iI will have to look for something else next year but it has been good so far.
For Science and History we follow what is laid out in THE WELL TRAINED MIND. Basically you learn history in chronological order and the science follows what they were discovering in that time.
A really good book to read first is SO YOUR THINKING ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING by Lisa Whelchel. In the book it follows 15 different families that have different styles of homeschooling. Its great because it can give you an idea of what might work best for your family.

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